On 9 May, numerous artists, art historians, and art enthusiasts gathered at the “Josip Račić” Gallery of the National Museum of Modern Art to attend the opening of the exhibition “In Anticipation of the Fiftieth Anniversary”. Next year marks five decades of activity for this small city gallery, which has been operating within the National Museum of Modern Art (formerly the Modern Gallery) since 1992, so the exhibition serves as a precursor to this significant jubilee.
After the director of the National Museum of Modern Art, Branko Franceschi, delivered the introductory address, the exhibition’s concept was presented by Tihana Galić, the curator from NMMA and author of the exhibition, while the painter Vlado Jakelić shared anecdotes from the Gallery’s founding era.
The exhibition and its accompanying documentary materials provided a platform for multimedia artist Ivo Deković and painters Jadranka Fatur, Vlado Jakelić, and Marijana Muljević, among other notable figures on the Croatian art scene who have showcased their work at the Josip Račić Gallery, to reflect on the occasions when their solo exhibitions graced this venue.
Utilizing carefully chosen pieces, primarily sourced from the Museum’s holdings and created by artists featured during this timeframe, this noteworthy exhibition offers a glimpse into a portion of the venue’s artistic legacy. It evokes recollections of past exhibitions and the artists who, through diverse artistic expressions and thematic emphases, contributed to shaping its identity. Additionally, it presents a concise historical narrative of exhibition practices within the Gallery spanning the last fifty years. The limited number of artworks on display primarily stems from constraints imposed by the size of the exhibition space. Nevertheless, it forms a representative sample of the venue’s rich exhibition history.
Among the first to view the works by Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač, Vlado Jakelić, Jadranka Fatur, Marijana Muljević, Ivo Deković, Nicholas Roerich, Đuro Seder, and Stipan Tadić, along with some archival copies of accompanying publications from numerous exhibitions and the documentary film “Jadranka Fatur, Paintings” by Hrvoje Juvančić, filmed in 1987 at the Josip Račić Gallery, were the visual artist Amela Frankl, painters Marijana and Izvor Pende, sculptor Peruško Bogdanić, art historians Krunoslav Kamenov, Dubravka Osrečki Jakelić, Marija and Zdenko Tonković, Guido Quien, Branka Benčić, director of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, cultural manager Ivan Maruna. The cultural community of Zagreb has the opportunity to view the exhibition until 2 June.
A bilingual catalogue, designed by Ana Zubić, in Croatian and English was published to accompany the exhibition, featuring an essay by art historian Tihana Galić.
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Reproductions: from the exhibition opening / Photo Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb